WASHINGTON, May 14, 2012 (LifeSiteNews.com) - When Nancy Keenan, the head of Americas oldest abortion lobby, told the Washington Post she was stepping down, she cited a grim fact that she had noticed for years: abortion supporters just arent as young or zealous as their pro-life counterparts anymore.

While most young, antiabortion voters see abortion as a crucial political issue, NARALs own internal research does not find similar passion among abortion-rights supporters, wrote the Posts Sarah Kliff. If the pro-choice movement is to successfully defend abortion rights, Keenan contends, it needs more young people in leadership roles, including hers.

Keenan, 60, said she would step down at the end of the year in favor of a younger executive. Theres an opportunity for a new and younger leader, Keenan told the paper. Roe v. Wade is 40 in January. Its time for a new leader to come in and, basically, be the person for the next 40 years of protecting reproductive choice.

The abortion leader had told Newsweek in 2010 of her shock at the youth and vigor of the pro-life movement after stumbling upon the annual March for Life in Washington, D.C., which draws hundreds of thousands of people - disproportionately female and very young - each year.

I just thought, my gosh, they are so young, she said. There are so many of them, and they are so young.

Gallup polls on the abortion issue among Americans have shown age groups growing more similar in their views on the topic for the past 20 years. While abortion-on-demand found most of its support among young adults in the mid-1970s, surveys since 2000 show all age groups below seniors showing similar feelings on the topic.

NARALs poll of 700 young Americans in 2010 found 51 percent of pro-life voters under 30 calling abortion a very important voting issue, compared with only 26 percent of the same group among abortion supporters.

Kristan Hawkins, the 26-year-old executive director of Students for Life of America, told CitizenLink that she could definitely see the intensity gap on college campuses, where her organization fosters 700 student pro-life groups compared with Planned Parenthoods 200.

(The pro-abortion groups) are dead. There is nothing going on. The only time we see them is when they are reacting to a Students for Life event, said Hawkins.

Kliff reports that NARAL, which was founded four years before Roe v. Wade, has spent the past three years using surveys and focus groups to find new ways of messaging young adults to support abortion. A new, more extensive campaign for abortion is also waiting in the wings, due to be launched for Roes 40th anniversary next year.

People give a lot of lip service to how were going to engage the next generation, but we cant just assume it will happen on its own, said Keenan.

The abortion leader had told Newsweek in 2010 of her shock at the youth and vigor of the pro-life movement after stumbling upon the annual March for Life in Washington, D.C., which draws hundreds of thousands of people - disproportionately female and very young - each year.

Young people are acutely aware that a huge percentage of their generation has been murdered.

There is NO grey area between letting a living, breathing, unborn child live and cold, bloody, premeditated murder at the hands of a bloody butcher, is there?

Just where in the hell is the grey area? What a jerk!

I would love to see a senator or representative sneak the remains of a freshly aborted baby in front of Pelosi or Reid with the cameras rolling and let them see what they believe it! Sounds sick, but so is abortion!

No kidding. Fighting for life itself or fighting for the void of nihilism? It is just a matter of time before pro-life prevails. This rigged election is a rear guard action by the culture of death, but like the Texas Rangers, we are just going to keep on coming.

9
posted on 05/14/2012 4:40:42 PM PDT
by Psalm 144
(Obama's record is an open charnel pit. Romney's too, but under a whitened sepulchre.)

Our local right-to-life group runs a booth at the flea market that is held the second weekend of every month. Anyway, I took a shift on Saturday, and had a huge turnout, with everyone supportive of our efforts. I had teens stop by and ask questions, and it was apparent they were anti-abortion. I told one man about the busloads of young people our Catholic parish takes every every year to Washington in January. As someone who was born less than 3 weeks after Roe v. Wade was decided, I have watched the holocaust of my generation and those after me. Obviously, by all the youth you see at the marches and at pro-life activities, I am not alone in this.

The abortion leader... told... of her shock at the youth and vigor of the pro-life movement after stumbling upon the annual March for Life in Washington, D.C., which draws hundreds of thousands... each year. I just thought, my gosh, they are so young, she said. There are so many of them, and they are so young.

4 posted on Mon May 14 2012 18:18:02 GMT-0500 (Central Daylight Time) by Pollster1: “Apparently pro-life adults raise more children than pro-abortion activists allow to survive. This surprises liberals and no doubt requires a scientific study for the unexpected trend to be understood.”

You are absolutely right.

Look at the rise to power of Orthodox and Hasidic Jews in Israel. Three generations ago Zionism was a mostly secular movement and strictly observant Jews were considered to be a tiny minority that was dying out. Today, they hold the balance of power. Strong commitments to their religious beliefs, combined with a commitment to transmitting the values of the parents to the children and the desire to have many children, has resulted in the political and social agenda of an entire country being set by the most religiously conservative segment of its population.

Similar things could be said (though in a bad way) about the rise of Islam in Europe. White secular liberals are killing their kids in Europe and couldn't care less about transmitting any values to the next generation except “openmindedness” in the public realm and tolerance in the private realm for immorality and debauchery.

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